Death row convict in Rajiv Gandhi killing gets gold medal

Chennai: Death row convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case Perarivalan has won gold medal in one of the Prison Department conducted educational and vocational training programmes.

Perarivalan, lodged in Vellore Central Prision, has come first and "bagged the gold medal" in Diploma in Desk Top Publishing Operator course, one of the training programmes conducted in association with the Mahatma Gandhi Community College and the Tamil Nadu Open university, a Prison Department release said in Chennai on Thursday.

Besides Perarivalan, Murugan and Santhan have also been awarded death sentence for their role in the assassination of Gandhi in 1991. All the three have challenged the rejection of their mercy petitions by the President and the matter is pending before the Supreme Court.

Gold medals were also awarded in Diploma courses in Catering Assistant, Four-wheeler Mechanism, Desk Top Publishing Operator and House Electrician.

The release said 175 out of the 185 prison inmates who had appeared for various courses passed the exams conducted in January 2012.

The courses were being conducted to "improve the employment and self-employment opportunities for prisoners towards rehabilitation," it said.